I'm Not a Cynic

It wasn't just the Dell, and Clouse ducked his head when Ellery rounded off the point. Oh man, how was he gonna explain it? Clouse barely understood his emotions about it all. He loved them all dearly, and it did begin to dawn, happily, upon him that maybe his mom, papa and siblings could all come here and they could adventure into the unknown together. Well... together to Clouse, which he feared was different than what the word meant to his big sister or even scarier yet, his mother. Because he knew their dream, and it made the boy queasy to think that he'd be stuck in whatever they created. Not because he disagreed with any of it, but simply because the thought of any kind of forever haunted the boy like a boogeyman. Couldn't he have both family and freedom?

"It's... it's not that I don't want you guys around I just... what if, I wanna be more like... Uncle Ram? What if... I don't want to stay... right next to everyone... my whole life..."